to say for his satisfaction But yet he stopped not there for finding in himself some secret joy which added somewhat to his natural debonairity and that it concerned the health of his Sister that Brandon should reassume his former jollities that with more success he might employ himself in her Service he thought it not sit to dismiss him before he had dissipated the smallest mists which great affairs how well soever concluded leave commonly behind them No forrain nor remote matters disturbed him at that time and he had just then received good news from the Emperour who to begin the War against France promised to act on the Frontiers of Picardy which the wary King of Spain deferred to do on the side of Guyenne So that finding his mind in great liberty he gave Brandon a review of the life they had led together and laying before him almost all the Testimonies of Friendship that he had shewed him he forgot not amongst the rest to take special notice of the merit of that obliging manner whereby he had countenanced his love With that desiring a suitable return of Justice he cryed that it was his part to render it him adding that he knew not how he could after so powerful obligations suspect that he would take the Earl of Kildare's part against him and far less how he could believe him to be in love with his own Sister and the Rival of a friend of whose passion he himself had laid the foundation and at length concluded that he well perceived that love was always accompanied with infirmities and that lovers could not guard against them when their friends had the art to foresee them At these last words which he could not pronounce without a smile Brandon was so fully convinced of his sincerity that he lost all the remains of distrust and trouble which he could possibly retain And to confirm him in the just perswasion that he was of the King gave him his hand as an evidence of a perfect good correspondence then thinking it needless to intreat him to take care of the Princess recovery knowing it to be his greatest concern he thought it enough to tell him in the most taking way imaginable that they ought both to contribute their utmost endeavours for that effect and that he himself being guilty of much imprudence in that conjuncture would grant her for her comfort without exception whatever she pleased to desire But Brandon who understood but too well the meaning of that discourse was so much the more affected with it that by an excess of love and virtue he began of himself so to be disposed as not to be flattered with any thing The hopes that had dazled him in his younger days dazled him now no more in the age that he had attained to Time and reason made him daily discover new impediments His true birth seemed likewise to object secret hinderances which appeared invincible and whatsoever affection the Princess was preingaged in in his favour and what goodness soever the King might evidence to him yet he saw no appearance to promise himself that he would one day give her to him in marriage nor did he find it even reasonable that he himself should desire it He very well knew that the Daughters and Sisters of Kings are always married for reasons of State and that it was to much purpose indeed for him to ballance the ancient custom of England and the design that the King had to establish 〈◊〉 with that universal maxim Neither 〈◊〉 ancient custom nor the re-establishment that the King gave out he intended to make of it appeared to him any thing but a vain phantasm raised against the treaty of Calais or at most but a specious reason to temporise for some years in expectation of some better alliance against the house of Austria To that it may be added that though it had been true that the lovely Princess had not been intended in marriage to any Forraign Prince there were yet many other great Lords in England Scotland and Ireland who might be chosen for that purpose and all those who pretended to her as he did be excluded So that finding himself at that time filled with these great and hard thoughts which sometimes had made him resolve to forsake the Kingdom and sometimes to withdraw out of it for a time he thought he could never find a more favourable occasion to open himself to the King And therefore he broke his mind to him as he had been desirous to do and reflecting on the zeal for the Princess which that Prince endeavoured to inspire in him he told him That as to that he had more need of a curb than a spur and that the sentiments of his heart were but too publickly known That he saw on all hands but too many who were envious of a blessing which he owed only to his Approbation and not to the goodness of her who was reproached therewith That after so much rumour it was very fit to raise no more That rather than his respects should cost the greatest Princess of the world so dear he would renounce the honour of her Presence and that seeing he was unable to do her any service he ought at least to be careful of her Glory And that to succeed in that design there was no other expedient but flight That though he made no difference betwixt dying and leaving of London yet he was fully resolved to do it if his Majesty would give him leave That in begging it of him he could assure his Majesty that he had never flattered himself with any foolish hope in reference to the Princess That what goodness soever she might have for him yet he never framed any disadvantageous notions of her and that if he durst ever make a wish when he saw her it was only that he might be able to serve her so long as he lived But that he was so far from that that it behoved him for the future to renounce the honour of seeing her and that the innocence of his intentions sufficed not to preserve him in the enjoyment of so precious a blessing That to conclude he beg'd his pardon for the disorders which he might have occasioned in his Court that he acknowledged himself altogether unworthy of the favours that he had conferred upon him but that nevertheless he did not think he deserved the character of ungrateful and that if he found him in the least guilty of that he prayed him to take from him that odious name by taking away his life This was the substance of what the passionate Brandon expressed in no less passionate terms and the King the more touched with his virtue that he was sensible enough that he had not used him kindly since the death of Cecile had no way to defend himself His heart was wholly again inflamed for a man of so sublime a soul and in a nice emulation which Kings seldom condescend to with their subjects he
storm which he foresaw from England having already dealt with the King of Scotland to make a diversion and Pregent his Vice-admiral in the Mediterranean who had no more to do with the Genowese being ready to pass over the Channel with Primanget Commander of the British-Ships to ravage the Coasts of Ireland he had a great many good Troops on foot and Officers of extraordinary merit Lowis de Halewin Marquess of Pienne a man of consummated Valour who was their General had Rendezvouzed them at Hedin The Marquess de Potelin of a boyling hot Courage commanded the Cavalry and after him in several charges were the Count de la Plaisse a warlike man the Chevalier Bayard characterised without fear and without reproach The brave Aimard de prie Imbercourt Clairmont D'anjou Bussy D'amboise Bonnivet Bonne-val Fonterailles and a great many more all capable to command Armies not to reckon those who in respect of Birth were above them as the Counts of Guise and Vendosme and the Duke of Alencon whom the affairs of State obliged to remain with his Person But the loss of the Milanese put him in great Consternation and the King of England being Landed at Calais at the head of thirty thousand foot and six thousand horse with the greatest Artillery that had been seen for a hundred years he promised himself no favourable success in his War-like preparations The Emperour followed by four thousand Peistres and between five and six thousand Burgundian Faintassins had already begun the Fight in Picardy so that it was not difficult to the English to perfect it Brandon and Talbot who led the Vanguard under the Conduct of Colonel Windham whom the King had given them to moderate a little the heat of their Courage acted at first all that two young men who sought nothing but honour were capable to perform and chiefly Brandon by his love animated to glory and rendering all things easly to his guide made the prudence of that ancient Warriour so yield to his good fortune that having perswaded him to advance as far as the City of Therowenne they invested it Francis de Deligny Seneschal of Rowergue and Anthony de Crequy Pontdormy Commanded in that place with a Garrison of two thousand Lanskenets and five hundred Lancers and being both vigorous and stout Commanders they made several salleys upon their enemies It was only the wilfulness of Brandon that kept the Town blocked up whither the King of England immediately hastening with long marches and being as yet of no great experience ran great Riske in the plain of Tournehan where he had with him but ten thousand foot The Chevalier Bayard was already Master of one of the twelve Culverines which he carried with him and the English were put into great terrour but the too great prudence of the Marquess de Pienne marred all the advantage which the French might have made of that occasion Brandon who marched to meet the King his Master had time to joyn his Army and to change the face of affairs and that Prince well instructed by the engagement how useful that favorite was to him found hardly any other way to acknowledg his Valour but by praying him to husband it better The esteem that he conceived of him became equal to his former affection and during that War wherein all that belonged to him behaved themselves well he was almost never heard to speak but of Brandon It is no less true that he daily deserved new praises and that the siege of Therowenne being formed there was no corner where he did not show himself a terrour to the enemies It is not my design to give a particular account of all his actions nor to relate the secret sentiments of his heart no more than the Letters which he wrote to the English Princess and those he received from her Such particularities would lead me too far besides there is nothing more easie than to imagine that being separated from one another they failed not in the duties which a mutual tenderness prescribes to true lovers In effect absence served only to make them know one another they felt by experience the effects of all sorts of longings impatiences and fears and as the Princess Mary heard not without trembling of the dangers to which she knew he exposed himself only that he might merit her in the same manner he never ran any risk but that he had the Image of that beautiful Princess before his eyes It was to no purpose for his friends who saw him so resolute to tell him that he tempted his fortune too often to have it always favourable It was Brandon's design either to prevent by a glorious death all the evils that he thought himself threatned by or to raise himself to so great a reputation amongst men that he might have no more cause of fear from them and that thirst after glory which Henry the Eighth understood very well to be the effect of his love was oftener than once the subject of their entertainments But what moderation soever the King advised him to use that way though he told him every day that he did precipitate himself without any reason into dangers for a blessing which was already wholly his own yet he remitted nothing of that Warlike heat but endeavoured if it may be so said to make his King and the Kingdom of England obliged to him for every thing And in that he succeeded so well that having gained as many Victories as he fought Battels there was not so much as one even to his most jealous Rivals who acknowledged not that as they could not any more contend with him in any thing so nothing likewise ought to be denied him but the bravest of all his actions and which in the decision of that War cost him so dear in the sequel was the taking of the Marquess of Rotelin who began then to be called Duke of Longueville The design of the French was to re-victual Therowenne and though the Emperour and King of England streightly pressed the place yet Teligny and Crequy promised themselves in time to make them consume their Forces before it provided they could have Ammunition and Victuals whereof they began to be in want put into the place The King of France upon the word of these two Valiant men Commanded the Marquess de Pienne to omit nothing that could be done for that end and he wrote to him daily from Amiens where he lay a-bed of the Gout to that purpose In so much that what difficulty soever there might be in the enterprise Pienne resolved to undertake it The Orders were given to bold Fonterailles Captain of the Albanians who being loaded with Powder and Provisions slipt quietly by as far as the Town-ditch But as till then the design had been very well carried on so the imprudence of the Volunteers who would not joyn with the Troops which La Palisse commanded to make good Fonterailles's retreat was the cause that it took no effect
Most part of them entered the Town to visit their friends Others scorched with heat alighted from their great horses and to refresh themselves mounted their ambling Nags and almost all of them having drunk and made merry came in disorder some in a huddle together and the rest in file one after another to view the English Camp Brandon being informed how matters went and withal vexed at the victualling of the Town which the King his Master thinking the occasion might prove too hot for him would not suffer him to oppose came to ask leave to charge those at least who had done it in their retreat He moved the King a little at first by representing to him how easie a matter it was to cut them all to pieces or at least to take them Prisoners by the foolish confidence they were in and speaking to that not only as an able Captain for Conduct but likewise as a resolute Soldier for execution there being no time to be lost the King at last consented to it So that whilst there were some detachments making against the parties of Fonterailles and la Palisse to beat back the one and break the other Brandon with Colonel Davers marching at the head of four thousand horse eight hundred foot and six pieces of Cannon passes the River Lis near to Derlet and lyes in wait for the Enemies at the passage of Hutin They retreated with great assurance marching in confusion as he had foreseen for being pursued by none after the false allarm which was purposely given them was over and missing none of their number but the young Count D'anton Son to the Seignior of Bouchage and some others that could not get out of Therowenne they dreamt not of any greater mischief when Brandon appearing of a sudden so sharply charged them that having no leisure to mount their great Horses again nor to put on their head-pieces they began to be in disorder The brave la Palisse notwithstanding of the stout resistance he made was already taken and the undaunted Chevalier Bayard having almost singlely defended the bridg of Hutin became companion in the bad fortune of Clairmont D'anjow and of Bussy D'amboise to whose assistance he came There remained none but the Duke of Longueville to head the subdued who being mounted on a stout charging-horse compleatly armed it seemed no easie matter for one man hand to hand to get the better of him and besides a considerable body of the French Army advanceing in order of Battel those that had been put to flight began to rally So that Brandon perceiving that the total rout of the Enemies depended on the overthrow of this Warriour and by the riches of his arms taking him for a French Prince he left la Palisse in the hands of some Gentlemen who kept him not long and with sword in hand set upon him whose resistance hindered his Victory The Duke of Longueville received him valiantly but at length after the interchanging of many blows Brandon with the danger of a wound which he received in the thigh dismounted the Duke who disjoynted his shoulder by the fall The French upon this turned back upon those that were coming to their aid and put their own men in as great disorder as the Enemy would have done and seeing in this Battel their horses heels had done them better service than the points of their swords it was called the Battel of Spurs But it had been far better for Brandon that the Duke of Longueville had escaped with the rest for the injury that he did him afterward was so great that all the Glory he obtained in overcoming him and all the praise that he gained thereby was not enough to make amends for it Time sensibly discovering to him that fortune by great evils can be repayed of her greatest favours After this there happened no more considerable action on either side Brandon's wound kept him a fortnight a-bed and the King of France though he had lost but very few men being unwilling to expose his Kingdom to the danger of a Battel thought it best to give Therowenne to the fortune of his Enemies Teligny after two months siege rendered it on composition Victuals and Ammunition failing him before his Courage and the King of England and the Emperour not agreeing betwixt themselves about the propriety of the place the one claiming it by right of Inheritance and the other by Conquest it was presently demolished In the mean time Lowis the Twelfth that he might put a stop to his bad success by employing a General in whose safety all his Subjects might be concerned caused the young Duke of Valois to advance to Blangy But neither the merit of that Prince nor the great Forces that daily joyned him hindered the progress of the King of England for whilst the Duke Longueville and the other Prisoners were on their way to London he lay down before the City of Tournay which having no hope of relief as lying in the midst of the Low-Countreys made no long resistance And having now reduced that place under his Obedience and beginning to have some jarring with the Emperour who in many things was chargeable to him and in others unfaithful he returned back into England Never was Prince better satisfied for besides his own Conquests of Therowenne and Tournay the Victory which the Earl of Surrey's Lieutenant had just then obtained over the Scots raised him to the highest pitch of fortune that he could almost pretend to and though his Fleet had received some rustle in the Bay of Brest yet the death of the King of Scotland killed in the Battel of Floudon which he fought only for the interest of France though he was his Brother-in-law revenged him fully of that and of the damage which Pregent and Primanguet had done him on his Wastes Insomuch that he entred London in triumph where to reward those who had fought so valiantly for his Glory he made Brandon Duke of Suffolk gave the Title of Duke of Norfolk to the Earl of Surrey and to his Son the Admiral that of Surrey and Talbot Gray and Sommerset who had behaved themselves stoutly on all occasions were created the one Earl of Shrewsbury in the place of his Father who desired it the other Marquess of Dorset his Father being lately dead and the last Earl of Worcester But these are matters wide of my Subject and I should not remark them by the by but for avoiding confusion in the names of those who may have some share in the sequel of this History My business should be to relate the joy that the English Princess conceived upon the return of Brandon to which the title of Duke of Suffolk as from henceforth he must be named added but little for a real virtue once known needs no other Ornaments And the affectionate rebukes she gave him for having so often exposed himself to dangers would without doubt require a more exact description than I make were it not that
the tenderness of these Lovers is sufficiently known and that their pains rather than pleasures are to be related since that amidst trouble and difficulties the greatness and power of Love appears more conspicuous After so fair beginnings they wanted not crosses and all that had befallen them before the War from the competition of Gray Bourchier and Sommerset from the Kings indifferency after the death of Cecile Blunt or from the aggression of the Earl of Kildare followed by an Imprisonment which the secret Quality of a Prince of York rendered the more dangerous All this I say bears no proportion with what they endured afterward Upon the return from the War of France all people imagining that Brandon who had acquired so much Glory there should espouse the Princess Mary when they saw him only made Duke of Suffolk and nothing else talked of they believed that his fortune was at a stand and that in that respect there had been more policy than friendship in the Conduct of the King There is but little certainty in the opinions of men all is but whimsey There was no more discourse therefore of his Intelligence with Mary of England nor of the services he rendered her On the contrary they began both to be pitied as two perfect Lovers cruelly and unjustly dealt with But whilst people thus favoured them with their good opinions a tranquil serenity gave jealousie time to rise to a head against them This new Quality of Duke of Suffolk which rendered him a suitable match to the chiefest Ladies at Court made in effect many of them cast their thoughts that way because it was believed that he had attained to the greatest height that he could expect So that the lovely Lucretia Tilney being of a Quality and Fortune answerable to his merit the Princess had no sooner taken notice of the civilities which Suffolk rendered her to please the King only who designed her for his Mistris but that she immediately imagined they were the effects of Love So that she became jealous to that extremity into which true Lovers commonly fall of a sudden She spake not a word of this to her faithful Judith Kiffen from whom she had never concealed any thing but the secret of Brandon's Birth who not knowing what to think of the alteration that he perceived in her essayed for some days to discover that in her eyes which was quite contrary to what was in her heart That extreme respect might have provoked any other besides Mary of England and there are but few Lovers who in the fury of jealousie would not have taken it for indifferency But as she only loved because she was beloved so she made the best use of the various Sentiments that attend love She always devised arguments to excuse the inconstancy that she complained of and by strongest reason drawn from the stock of most tender affection she sometimes perswaded her self that the effects which she had caused in the heart of Brandon whilst he was but nothing were not to be expected from the Duke of Suffolk He loved me said she as the Daughter and Sister of his King He hath used me as a pleasant apparation to entertain his idle thoughts whilst he had none that were serious and now that he is what he deserves to be he applies himself to that which he may obtain If thou wert not of the blood of Lancaster continued she and could he promise himself of thee what he thinks he may expect of another he would love thee still as he hath loved thee and over-love thee And thereupon giving way to the mild Sentiments by which the pretended infidelity of Suffolk might be justified Let us pardon then said she let us pardon him for an injury which respect and fear only makes him commit against our love Let us do justice to that tender affection whereof we have received so great Testimonies this is probably the perfectest instance that he could render us and it costs him doubtless too dear to be undervalued by unjust suspitions But jealousie usurping again the dominion over her heart such lofty reasonings did not at all satisfie her She had much a-do to conceive how a Lover could renounce the thing he loves and then concluding that love which always slights and gets above reason and decorum is not so tame she found her self much disposed to judg no more in favour of Suffolk Besides his true extraction more and more fortified her jealousie and thinking that the reasons which she allowed to Brandon or Duke of Suffolk did not so well suit with a Prince of York what appeared to her to be an excess of love or discretion in the one had not the same character in the other And the very Glory which he had acquired in France made his present Conduct a little suspicious to her She saw him so well supported by his own worth that she could not but sometimes think that he intended to build his Fortune thereon and as the King appeared so much the less favourable to their Union that he had seemed much inclined to it before and that he reflected on it very seriously so the services that the Duke of Suffolk rendered to the lovely Tilney which jealousie made appear far more assiduous than they were though all was but an effect of complaisance made her often enraged against her self and condemn all her own goodness At length after a long conflict within her self so great as to make her compare her own marvelous and rare perfections with the ordinary and indifferent Qualities of her pretended Rival as she loved to the utmost extent of love and that her jealousie was altogether gentle and sublime and had nothing ragged nor low she found her self reduced to a necessity of speaking But she did it with so expressive and sensible an air that she had hardly opened her mouth when Suffolk by her first word discovering the cause of that discontent which he could not guess at needed no more but a single sigh to allay her trouble Their Sentiments as well as looks were soon agreed and they expressed themselves so intelligibly in that manner and understood one another so well that being both fully satisfied and fixing their eyes on one another for some time they needed no other language to speak their thoughts Suffolk being ravished to see himself so dear to the Princess as to inspire into her jealousie seemed by silence and other signs of submission to thank her for such a new favour which he never believed himself able to deserve But at length he broke that so eloquent silence to complain of her too much reservedness and the Princess perceiving that his complaint was just and she in kindness obliged to suffer it made appear by a most engaging blush that she desired he should not persist therein So that love which lays hold on all occasions to make Lovers speak raising an officious contest betwixt them on that subject was the cause that the
and every Champion omitting nothing of the finest and most regular practices of War and as the Assailants made inconceivable efforts so the Defendants maintained it with so much vigour that the Queen who was always in fear for Suffolk representing to the King that Courage incited by emulation might sometimes be exasperated in a matter of pleasure and recreation he sent the Judges of the Field to put an end to the Combat by declaring that the Glory was equal on both sides The health of the Prince which was thought somewhat restored invited all the Gallants to begin some new feats afresh But seeing the Queen although she strove against her humour seemed not at all taken with such kind of Divertisements he was glad being desirous to oblige her more and more by resigning himself wholly to her pleasure to delay the proposed solemnities of rejoycing until the month of January This offered a reason to the Duke of Suffolk to speak to him of his departure and though that good King who loved to see him made some difficulty to let him go yet the matter went off exceeding well under the common pretext that every one took to withdraw from Court in a time when there was nothing to be done there He pretended some affairs that called him back into England He promised to be back before the Carnaval and two days after that his equipage was gone having taken his leave of the King and Duke of Valois to whom he thought it not convenient to express himself any more and having no occasion to take leave more particularly of the Queen he took horse accompanied with young Gray Brother to the Marquess of Dorset and six in train Not that he desired his company On the contrary it would have rejoyced him to have been alone and though he was abundantly satisfied that his fair Queen loved him with all her heart yet he looked upon himself but as a wretch who desired to be abandoned of all the world seeing he was forsaken by himself He never thought more of seeing Mary of Lancaster again He was already plodding into what Countrey remote from her he should go end the miserable remainder of his days and as the vehemency of his affliction prompted him to that design so the imperious idea of his secret extraction presenting it self to his imagination to encrease his pain began likewise to tempt him thereto All the little displeasures which he had effaced at the Court of England took place again in his memory He could not excuse himself for having carried the name of Brandon there so long when he had one so illustrious to bear The favours of HENRY the Eighth appeared to him but ignominious trifles In fine having no mind to return into England but that he might declare what he was and like a sick person who turns and tumbles every way to find a more easie posture which he meets with no-where giving way to I know not what piece of vanity that seemed to mitigate his grief because it was an effect thereof he imployed in thoughts as vain as ambitious that severe reprieve which he owed only to the Greatness of his misfortune O! Mary of England what kind of love is this that does in such a manner oppress your Empire over the Duke of Suffolk was never so great as when he durst think that you had none and the revolt of that lovely soul gave you greater proofs of its subjection than all the testimonies of love and respect which he had given you heretofore True it is also that that revolt lasted not long enough to be thought of any consequence Fortune that preserved to you so worthy a Conquest was upon the dawning to Crown its merit But as she never bestows any favours and chiefly such as may be called Soveraign and Supreme without the price of an extreme affliction which seems to compleat all her other crosses so she resolved to reduce the Duke of Suffolk to the utmost extremity before she put you in a condition of being his Having departed from Court in a disorder of mind that cannot be well expressed he continued by very easie journeys his way to Calais wherein a design of wandring over the world desiring to retain but two of his servants he was thinking with himself already of means to give young Gray the slip when at the Towns-end of Ardres entring into a little Cops which leads to Guines ten men well mounted broke forth upon him and his train At the first charge they gave his horse having received a Carbine-shot in the head after some bounds fell into a kind of Lake which the Winter-rains began to make on the side of the high-way and he was so engaged under his horse that that fall would have determined all his fortune if three other Gentlemen coming from Guines and joyning young Gray had not given Bokal his Valet de Chamber time to come to his assistance Seeing he was not at all hurt he got quickly out of the water and mounted another horse and despair or anger encreasing his natural strength though the match was then petty equal the engagement lasted not long Two of the most desperate who thought to overthrow him were themselves knocked down by the weight of his blows Young Gray and the three unknown Gentlemen whom fortune had guided into that place did as much to those that bore head against them and of the remaining four who bethought themselves only of flight one being fallen about a hundred paces off the faithful Bokal who suspected that the Duke of Longueville had suborned these Assassines against his Master thought best to make him Prisoner That wretch gave them sufficient information of the truth of the matter that they were some of the Emperours Reistres who came from their Garrison of Dunkerk as far as that Countrey to commit Pillage and Robberies Nevertheless the unjust supicion of Bokal produced very troublesom consequences for the Duke of Longueville who was in no way capable of a bad action It was the cause that he was very rigorously dealt with about the ransom which he owed still and as he thought to have payed it by the ransom of Peter de Navar taken Prisoner at the Battel of Ravenna which LOWIS the Twelfth had given him so these dispositions altering under the Reign of FRANCIS the First who received that Spaniard into his service the King of England pressed the Duke of Longueville the more that knowing him to be in a necessity of ransoming himself he would have him punished for that pretended Riot and for every thing else that he had done against the Duke of Suffolk But though this bad Rancounter had nothing extraordinary in appearance since it happens very frequently that Robbers set upon Passengers on the High-ways who are succoured by others yet in this their befel one of the oddest adventures that perhaps can be imagined when the Duke of Suffolk having discovered that the chief of the three that had